CHENNAI: After consolidating its presence in trucks segment in the country, German commercial vehicle maker Daimler will start making buses at its new plant located near the city.

The company today laid foundation stone for the bus manufacturing plant coming up at the existing truck facility at Orgadam, about 45 km away from here at a cost of Rs 425 crore, it said in a release here.

The plant, spread over 400 acres of land, produces trucks across various tonnages and the company has so far invested Rs 4,400 crore, the release said.

"On the basis of our strong truck business, we are now pressing ahead on the Indian bus market. For that purpose, we are consistently using existing suppliers, our production site and our sales network in India," Wolfgang Bernhard, Daimler AG Board Member, Daimler Trucks and Buses, said in a statement.

The bus plant, which is coming up on 27.91 acre land inside its truck manufacturing facility, will manufacture and assemble buses under the Mercedes Benz and BharatBenzbrands, and it will be completed by second quarter of 2015, it said.

The state-of-the-art bus body building facility will be part of new bus plant. The bus body will be superior in terms of technology and reliability meeting Daimler global standards of quality and efficiency, it added.

"An investment of Rs 425 crore has been earmarked for the bus project in India for an installed capacity of 1,500 units in initial phase and could be expanded to 4,000 units," Marc Llistosella, CEO & MD, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, said.